Page 54 of Slack Tide Kill

"I can't account for what your witness saw, I'm afraid," Collier said. "Perhaps they lied. If they are telling the truth, what you're dealing with here is an extreme outlier."

"I see. So we have an age range. We have a psychology and a mission. I presume you're leaning male, because statistically that's most common?"

"We are," Knight said. "In sum, you are looking for a local male in his late 50s, whose career was bound up in the land or emergency services. But there is one further aspect you should hear. Dr. Shaw?"

Olivia Shaw began speaking, her voice cutting, her expression unshifting. "Mission killers typically act out a powerful trauma, often incurred during early childhood. Something that irreparably scarred their internal compass of right and wrong; a balance they now ache to set right. They rationalize their killing as a public service, as revealing a deeper truth or showing others the way."

"What kind of trauma?"

"Something foundational. The most formative age for creation of the self, where trauma can rewire the brain in permanent ways, lies between the ages of 7 and 14. Given our suggested age of the killer, that places this original trauma approximately 15 to 20 years prior to the first cockle-shell murder. Around 50 years in total."

"50 years? That's back in the 1970s!"

"It is. During the killer's childhood."

Moments passed as Sally processed that. It was a lot, offering depths she didn't yet understand. It brought no direct suspects, but perhaps it was a filter.

"One more note," Shaw said. "Mission killers like this, notwithstanding the tiny handful of charismatics who dominate media coverage, are largely solitary creatures. Isolated by choice. They have no friends, no meaningful relationships, and do not seek them; such connections would be a threat to their twisted worldview."

"Twisted worldview. Got it."

"And twisting further. Research shows that, invariably after a relapse, such killers are no longer able to stop themselves."

Sally sat up straighter. "Wait. You think this person's out of control? There'll be more killings?"

"We do," Knight said, taking over. "And preventing them will be very challenging for a woman driven by animal urges and a man blunted by his own shame. Your killer is part of the Dungeness landscape, and has been for a long time. They are not hiding. They are not afraid. They simply belong, and that affords them an invisibility you will struggle to pry away. I do not envy you your task."

She ended the call. Sally and Liam were left sitting in silence, alone.

23 BARBARIAN EYES

Neither Sally nor Liam spoke for several minutes afterward. The weight of everything the Fates had said felt like a body sinking deep.

Buried under the tide. Glimpsing such dark wonders.

"She's really a bitch," Liam said at last.

Sally grunted.

"Flayed alive," he repeated. "I said it, didn't I? She's just showing off. She loves lording her 'brilliance' over us."

Sally wasn't sure what to say. Her own prescribed 'fate' had been cruel, yes. Hinting at the past. Assessing her compulsions. Calling her an animal. But maybe she'd cut Liam deeper. Perhaps there was a point to it, as Knight had suggested, or maybe it really was just cruelty.

The price of admission, perhaps.

She watched Liam. He seemed genuinely hurt. Maybe ashamed, just as Knight had said? That was something Sally didn't really understand. His partner's betrayal had been years ago. What did Liam have to be ashamed of?

"Ignore her," she said. "The rest of it was gold."

"Chaos and order? I could have told you that, without all the fancy footnotes. You just got assaulted by the beach itself, Sally. My car got tipped into a bog. The Rooks are loose. Hell is empty and all the sodding devils are right here, and now we're the ones in timeout?"

He stamped to his feet and began to pace.

"The age," she said. "Gender. The career."

"All of that too!" Liam waved a hand. "I can guess as well as she does. She doesn't have the right."

Sally didn't argue. Instead she stood and went to the whiteboard and wrote up the profile.